In a World without God

Young Bosha ran through the back streets of Kaldura. In his hands, he clutched moldy bits of bread and maggot-infested bones. Chasing after him were the merchants of Kaldura.

“I’m going to kill you, you miserable redhead!”

Bosha was puzzled. He hadn’t stolen anything. He’d just rummaged through the trash. Why were they after him? After repeatedly searching through garbage and evading capture, he had come to only one conclusion: they were his enemies. He was born the enemy of all humans. They could not tolerate him being alive. To live, he must fight them. He must hurt them.

“No. You must forgive. You must love. Only then will the world change for you, Captain Bosha.”

It was difficult to understand, even after hearing Ygraine’s words echo in his memory a thousand times. Ed was learning that some things never change. Some things are unforgivable. All Aruru did was rummage through a trash can, and Yug killed him as if it was nothing, as if it was a joke!

Ed’s Magick flared around him like a bonfire. The magic stone attached to the crucifix tried to pull it in, but Ed’s Magick could not be contained any longer. At the center of Ed’s burning Magick, a bright wick burnt even brighter.

Small and slender, like a thread, it was the only part of Ygraine’s Magick that Ed could control freely.

Perhaps because it was the Goddess’ Magick, but that thin stem felt as unyielding as an iron pillar to Ed. It didn’t waver against the magic stones or melt into Ed’s own Magick. It was as if it were Ygraine herself.

The Magick swirled around Ed’s body, and the nails that pierced his hands and feet fell limply to the floor, releasing Ed, who swiftly jumped down and landed on his feet in front of Yug, Raghad, and Kurzina. He quickly looked around and found what he needed.

Ed wrapped his Magick around a thick tree branch on the floor nearby, and its energy became as sharp as a whetted sword.

“Love your enemies, embrace your enemies. Captain Bosha is a man who can do that.”

Ygraine’s voice echoed in Ed’s mind, but he shook his head, ignoring her warning. Ed turned the branch towards Yug.

“Die!”

***

“I didn’t see it at all…” Raghad was puzzled. He had thought something was off when he saw Ed’s expression as he faced Yug. It resembled a wolf who had lost its cub and was prepared to attack recklessly without a care for the consequences.

He watched as Yug’s arm fell to the ground, but he didn’t recall seeing Ed move to sever the limb. Yug had screamed and then fumbled for his hammer.

Yug’s weapon of choice was a hammer as long as he was tall that he carried around strapped to his back. But with his right arm gone, he could no longer reach for it properly. He swung his left arm behind to grab it but stumbled over and lost his balance.

“Cousin Raghad! Cousin Zina! Help me!”

Yug was on the ground, his left hand holding where his arm had been severed. Because Ed had used Magick, the wound looked more like a burn, a clean cut with charred skin around the edges. Yug looked like a dragonfly with one wing clipped off. It was a sight unbefitting of a member of the Le Fay family.

As Ed swung the branch once more, this time at Yug’s throat, Raghad stepped forward. He drew his sword and parried Ed’s attack.

No matter how unworthy Yug might be, he shared the same bloodline, and Raghad couldn’t let the spawn of a witch kill a member of the Le Fay family.

“Step aside, witch-born, and do not harm my blood.”

“Step aside?” Ed turned his attention to Raghad and sneered. Without hesitating, he pivoted and swung the branch again, aiming for Raghad, who raised his sword to defend himself.

Raghad put full force behind his defending parry, wrapping his sword in his own Magick. He fully expected the branch to snap. It was, after all, still a branch, and even if it was wrapped in Magick, it was no match for his sword.

But only if the Magick he and Ed were using were at the same level.

Raghad’s Magick was powerful, often compared to a searing flame or erupting volcano. When he swung his sword combined with Magick with enough force, the earth would explode with fire ten paces from him.

Raghad’s sword was enveloped in a reddish aura. Ed’s branch should have shattered under its force, but it remained intact. More than intact, in fact, Raghad had been pushed back by the blow he had blocked from Ed. There wasn’t even a scratch on the branch, and his arm tingled with the shock of the clash.

Raghad knew that if Ed’s branch had been a sword, that would have ended their fight.

“What are you?” he demanded. “How did you get your Magick past the stone?”

Raghad had been suspicious of Ed since he first saw him. The descendants of the witch were only allowed to learn about Magick at the end of the Sainting, but this one broke down the gate. It shattered into tiny pieces. Only someone with refined Magick could have done that.

And to break the binding of the stone designed to withhold Magick? Even an adult with years of training could not have achieved this. That’s why they were used in prisons to prevent felons from escaping.

“Are you… an incarnation of the witch?” Raghad demanded.

“Shut up!”

Ed held the branch at an angle with both hands, the tip pointing toward the ground. Then, he took a giant step forward. The thud of his footsteps echoed in the deserted square.

Raghad was puzzled. When fighting with a sword, it was important not to let your opponent predict your next move, but Ed’s stance made it easy for Raghad to guess what he would do next.

He’s holding the branch out to his right side, with the tip pointing down. The only action that could follow from this is a large upward slash from the bottom right to the top left.

If someone else had taken this stance, Raghad would have thought they were a novice swordsman. But Raghad sensed a mastery in Ed’s skill. He knew he had practiced that stance thousands of times.

Perhaps he’s been trained to specialize in the slashing motion.

Instinctively sensing danger, he quickly turned to Yug and Kurzina.

“Zina, take Yug and run!”

Ed suddenly swung his branch through the air, and Raghad had just enough time to block him. Despite thinking he knew what Ed’s next move would be, the blow was far more potent than Raghad had anticipated. He felt his sword shake in his grasp and then gasped as the metal broke in half, splintering into two pieces and falling to the floor with a loud clang.

Ed immediately kicked him in the chest, and Raghad fell to the ground. A young spawn of the witch wielding a branch had overwhelmed him. He’d been unable to withstand even three strikes, but there was no time to wallow in shame.

“Zina! Run!” he turned and called out to her again.

Kurzina had just pulled Yug to his feet and started to walk away. Yug’s hammer lay haphazardly on the ground.

“Let’s go!” Yug shouted and took off running, leaving Kurzina behind. Ed watched and then made to chase after him, but Kurzina stepped forward and blocked Ed’s path.

“No! Don’t kill Yug!”

A blue, transparent wall appeared between Kurzina and Ed. It was a barrier Kurzina created with her Magick. It looked like transparent glass but was impenetrable, even against the strongest arrows. A second barrier of bright red flames appeared in front of it. Raghad had summoned the last of his Magick to protect Kurzina and stop Ed.

With the two barriers in front of him, Ed gathered his own Magick at his feet, where it burned fiercely.

“Do not interfere,” he growled and then stomped his foot hard. The ground shook violently.

It was a Magick technique Bosha used to deal with multiple opponents. It worked by knocking them off balance and disrupting the flow of their Magick. It was especially effective against mages and had been known as Bosha’s specialty.

Both Kurzina and Raghad cried out in confusion as they felt the force of Ed’s stomp, dropping their concentration on their Magick. The Magick barrier they’d created disappeared. Ed leaped forward and kicked Kurzina square in the chest, knocking her to the floor and out of his way. She fell to the floor with a grunt, and Ed charged past her, racing to catch up with Yug, who hadn’t gotten far.

“I’m sorry! Help! Someone, help me!” Yug cried out as Ed caught up and tackled him to the ground. As he stood over him, Ed saw that Yug’s crotch was soaking wet. Yug couldn’t even look Ed in the eye and quivered beneath him, his left arm raised to protect himself.

“Now you seek mercy! When you are the weak one!” Ed growled at him. He lifted his Magick-laden branch and prepared to strike at Yug’s throat.

“Stop!”

It was Kurzina. She stood a few feet behind Ed, and he turned to look at her.

“Where is the man who told me of miracles? Who told me of forgiveness? Was it all a lie to deceive me?” she asked.

Ed hesitated. He looked at Yug, but all he saw was Aruru’s bloodied body, the way Yug had held it up to him, and laughed. Aruru, who did nothing. Who only wanted to prove his mother’s innocence. He raised the branch again.

“No!”

Ed brought the branch down hard, and then, to his complete surprise, it snapped in two.

***.

There was a scent—the scent she had smelled the night before, the scent Kurzina believed was the smell of the Delua flower. She inhaled deeply as it filled her nostrils. She opened her tightly closed eyes, expecting to see Yug’s head rolling across the floor.

“Zina? What’s going on? What is he…”

Yug’s voice called out to her, and she stood, shaking at the sight before her. Raghad had caught up with them and stood by her side, just as surprised as she was. What they saw negated everything they’d ever known or been told.

Ed was enveloped in white light.

His Magick hadn’t been this color just a moment ago. How could a human use two types of Magick? It was unheard of!

White was also the color of the Goddess Lutea’s Magick. White Magick could not be wielded by humans, only by the Monks of the Holy Order. But even among them, not a single individual could wield such pure Magick.

“It can’t be,” whispered Kurzina. Raghad shook his head in disbelief.

They watched as Ed summoned Yug’s severed arm towards him. He approached where Yug was still cowering on the ground.

“You, who have lost yourself in solitude, are also a child of Lutea.”

Only seconds ago, Ed had spoken in a voice akin to a wolf’s growl. But now he sounded like a loving father.

The light from Ed’s body enveloped Yug’s body. Kurzina and Raghad watched with their jaws hanging open as Ed used the white Magick to forge Yug’s severed arm back to his shoulder. Yug scrunched his face, unsure of what was happening, and then turned to look at his arm in shock. He moved his hand and made a fist, clenching and unclenching his fingers. They moved as if nothing had happened. He looked up at Ed, who looked back at him calmly.

“Treat others with love, for that is how you find yourself.”

They all continued to stare at Ed in disbelief. Ed walked over to where Aruru’s body lay in the dirt, where Yug had flung it and wrapped his hands around it.

A bright white light enveloped Aruru’s body. The blood that covered Aruru flowed back into his body, his wounds healed, his body temperature returned, and, finally, he opened his eyes. Aruru blinked up at Ed, and then he turned and saw Yug.

“You! Le Fay’s little brat! I’m going to be a ghost, and I’m going to make sure you don’t… wait. Where am I?!”

Ed stroked Aruru’s head.

“You are a child of Lutea. I give you my light so that you may defeat the black armies.”

“What are you saying? Scion of the Witch! Do you have something…”

Ed closed his eyes, and his head nodded lightly as though he was falling asleep. The white Magick withdrew from his body, and he suddenly felt like he had taken a sleeping pill. He slowly dropped to his knees as his entire body went limp, collapsing to the floor and twitching violently as the last of the Magick drained from him. He lost all memory of what had just taken place.

Shortly after, he awoke to Kurzina, Yug, and Raghad standing over him. Aruru was perched on his chest, staring intently into his face.

“What the hell?” Ed croaked, his throat dry.

Yug, Raghad, Kurzina, and Aruru all had the same expression. They all stared at Ed, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, and dumbfounded. Ed propped himself on his elbows and squinted at them, unsure of what was happening.

“What is it?”

Kurzina dropped to her knees next to Ed and took his hand in both hers. She sobbed.

“You… You are…”